Notes: I'm updating so fast! Yay! It's just because I have no life and no one's kicked me off the computer yet, so, yay again:P Again, to akai amaterasu, thank you for the long review and the favorites listing:D I appreciate I have such a cool fan of my work! And to answer your questions, I was in chorus when I was younger, and in highschool, I took guitar class. I'm glad I'm not going too OOC with these people (I've never written an A/U before), and don't worry. That '-ish' will go away reeeeeeeeeeeeeal soon! XD I hate the filler stuff, ya know? Anyway, chapter five!
Part 1: Chapter 5
There was another meeting called for all those who participated in the band tryouts this past weekend. Naruto and I sat on the larger couch which we had turned to face the other chairs and couches.
"Alright people, thanks for coming!" Naruto cleared his throat over the din of the crowd gathered in the common room. Looking at them all together, I now realized just how many people responded to Naruto's request. Then again, it was a liberal arts college. "We've got the final list for the band right here." He waved the orange flyer he had written on the night before over his head. "If you didn't make the cut, I'm sorry. It was hard to choose, really! But if you still want a shot at being in the band, I'm looking for a composer to work alongside Sasuke here," he gestured to me. I blinked. This was news. He glanced over at me apologetically before continuing. "Okay, electric guitarist is Haruno Sakura."
"YAAAAAAAAAAY!" Ino screamed, hugging her pink-haired girlfriend. Sakura blushed and giggled and beamed proudly.
"Congratulations," he grinned. "Our drummer is Inuzuka Kiba." He howled. Hinata cheered in happiness as the others clapped. Akamaru barked excitedly. When they calmed down, Naruto continued once more. "Congrats to you too, man. Alright, synth player—Isoshigi Garra."
"Hurrah!" Haku smiled at his roommate, who turned slightly pink and rubbed the back of his head, grinning slightly.
"Everyone else," he waved them down, "I appreciate you showing an interest in the band. We'll keep you all posted with news and upcoming events, I promise." Signifying this as the end of the meeting, the people who had not been selected filed out of the room slowly. Naruto and I were alone on the couch in the middle of a collection of people; it was the weirdest feeling ever. Before I could open my mouth though, he turned to me. "Sasuke, I should have talked that over with you first. Sorry."
I shook my head. "It's fine, I guess. I'm no good at writing music, just lyrics."
"You're not mad?" he looked relieved.
"Nope," I shook my head.
"You're the best, Sasuke," he beamed and I looked away to hide the color rising on my cheeks.
"Look at you two—can't leave you alone for two seconds without you guys making faces at each other," came the playfully jeering voice of the new drummer.
"You're an ass, Kiba," Shikamaru said in a tired voice.
"They know I'm only poking fun," he shrugged. "Right?"
"Moving off the topic that makes Kiba feel better about himself," I rolled my eyes, hiding the grin I was wearing with my hand. "I've got news already."
"About?" Sakura blinked. I pulled the pamphlet from the back of my notebook and handed it to her. She read it aloud: "'Two Thousand and Six Annual Battle of the Bands' Monday January sixteenth to Friday February tenth at your local college campus—contact for details.' A…concert?"
"Yeah," I nodded. "And we're already entered."
"WHAT!" everyone screamed and I made a face at the abrupt loud noise.
"How could you enter us in something as big as this?" Sakura wailed. "We haven't even played together!"
"Are you nuts?" Kiba howled. "It'll take a miracle to be good enough to even put up a decent show by January!"
"We go the second week of Febuary—we're one of the last participants," I offered, knowing that wouldn't really help. Then I turned to Naruto and grinned outright. "Naruto, I should have talked that over with you first. Sorry."
He blinked. And blinked again. Then burst out laughing.
"Alright, Uchiha-bastard!" he laughed harder, clapping me on the back. "February, Battle of the Bands it is!"
Again: "WHAT!" He and I winced together.
"Why not?" he stood, crossing his arms over his chest. "Don't think you're good enough to pull it off?" At this, they quieted and looked at each other in shock. And finally, someone said something.
"If you registered," Ino lifted an eyebrow, "then you've already picked a name. What is it?" I stood as well and put my hands in my pockets, tucking my notebook into the crook of my arm.
"Sharingan," I answered her, and Naruto chuckled and I glanced back at him.
He winked: "You've got taste, Uchiha."
"I like it very much!" Haku gushed.
"Not bad," Garra agreed with a slight incline of his head.
"Hey…" Shino suddenly broke into the discussion. "Where's Hinata?"
We quieted and glanced around the room, which was empty save for us: myself, Naruto, Sakura, Garra, Kiba, Shikamaru, Shino, Haku, and Ino. Huh?
"Where's Neji?" I looked around the others for the pale, recluse man.
"They must have gone to the dining hall or something," Naruto shrugged.
"Are you kidding?" Shikamaru snorted. "Neji lives in an apartment off campus. There's no way a stuck-up bastard like that would stoop to eating school food with us poor people."
"Then, where are they?" Sakura asked, a hint of worry in her voice. The door to the lounge burst open and someone tumbled in, falling to their knees.
"Hinata!" Kiba yelped and ran over to her—we all did. She looked up at the sound of his voice, her pale eyes wide and overflowing with tears.
"Kiba! It's… It's…!" She grabbed onto his shoulders and I saw the blood painting the front of her gray windbreaker.
"What—!" Kiba started, his eyes catching the red smear on her front.
She shook her head. "Kiba, it's Akamaru! He's not answering me!"
Kiba's eyes widened and he lifted Hinata from the ground, passing her gently to Shino. "Take her!" he pleaded and bounded out of the room. "Akamaru?" we could hear his panicked voice echoing in the breezeway. "Akamaru!" I don't know what possessed me at that moment, but I grabbed Naruto by the elbow and dragged him out after Kiba. He followed wordlessly and we followed the sound of his howls through the main building and out into the courtyard. I saw him darting out of the main gates and I ran after him, Naruto keeping up beside me. We emptied out onto the sidewalk which ran parallel to the busy road that lead to the downtown area, and I saw Kiba kneeling by the crosswalk, an unexplainable expression on his face. "Akamaru…?" he whimpered and I stepped closer so that I could see over his shoulder. A bad move—I winced and turned away. Naruto crouched down beside his band member and looked at the scene with a difficult look on his usually happy features. "Akamaru…!" Kiba choked on a knot in his throat, tears rising in his yellow eyes. They slitted against the unwelcome wave of emotion and Kiba scooped the dog's body off the cold concrete, hugging him close. "No… No! Akamaru! AKAMARU!"
The howl echoed in the early night air and sent a huge chill slamming down my spine. I tore my eyes away from the scene before me and spotted the other missing person—Neji was standing in the shadows of the building across the street, his arms crossed and watching the other man wail over his lost companion. My eyes narrowed and I suddenly thought that somehow, this was all his fault. He had planned this. Why else would he be standing in the shadows just watching? He must have seen his cousin in distress over her pet's "unfortunate accident". And I finally made up my mind: I did not like Neji. At all.
Naruto gently tried to help Kiba to his feet but the other pulled away with a loud sniff and stumbled to his feet on his own. He looked from the blond back to me, and once more at Naruto. Without a word, he carried the dog's body back inside the school. I lifted an eyebrow but Naruto just shook his head and followed him. He dragged his feet all the way back to the breezeway, where by now, the others had gathered outside. Hinata perked up at his footsteps and ran up to Kiba, hesitating in front of him. Shifting the weight of the body into one arm, he took one of her shaking hands and pulled her out onto the West Lawn—a long, rolling field of grass that stretched from the main building to the opposite end of the sidewalk. They walked nearly to the end and stopped under an overgrown tree with low-hanging branches, kneeling together. We watched silently from the breezeway.
"That's where we first met," Shikamaru said, all traces of laziness in his voice gone. "Akamaru stole my shoe; if it was anything else, I wouldn't have bothered following him."
"And I wouldn't have gone either, but I liked laughing at him," Shino mumbled. The silence resumed; beside me, Naruto was trembling. I glanced at him and couldn't see his face, so I brushed the back of my hand against his. Without lifting his gaze, the blond took my hand and squeezed it hard. I could feel his entire hand shaking, from fingers to wrist as we watched Kiba digging heatedly in the dirt by the tree's roots and Hinata clutching the body of her companion in her arms. I felt a tap on my opposite shoulder and I looked to my left. Haku looked at me gravely, his koto gripped firmly in one hand, my black shakuhachi case in the other. I squeezed Naruto's hand and he looked up finally, and I saw he had been crying. I released my grip on his hand and took the case from Haku, opening it and eyeing the slender bamboo flute with slight apprehension as my roommate addressed Naruto softly.
"I had to enter your room. I'm sorry," he bowed his head. Naruto shook his and I looked into his eyes briefly. He looked back, and they sung to me. I read the song, I heard it, and I memorized it in an instant—I knew it by heart, anyway. It was the same look that I wore after my parents had passed away. I glanced at Haku and started forward and he followed. The other's eyes fell on us and I felt the nape of my neck tingling as Naruto's blue orbs stayed on me. We paused halfway between the group and the spot where Kiba was now holding Hinata as she cried softly. Haku sat down on the damp grass and folded his legs neatly beneath him, settling the polished oak board in his lap and placing his delicate-looking fingers on the silvery strings. I brought the hollow flute up to my lips and closed my eyes, remembering that look I had seen on Naruto's face, remembering when I once wore that same look.
The song came out of the bamboo-carved shakuhachi. It sliced cleanly through the air and I envisioned it wrapping around my new friends, soothing them in folds of sound. Beside me, the gentle, resonate plucking of the koto sounded beneath my melody, speaking of sadness and sorrow and pain. For a fleeting moment, the pain of all the memories came back to me and my shakuhachi wailed what our voices could and would not. The koto still hummed, gently rocking the mourners out of their shock and fear, helping my own music along. And as if to complete the melody of the afterlife, Kiba threw back his head and howled with every ounce of his agony behind the cry. I heard Hinata sobbing into his coat. I heard Sakura and Ino sniffling gently. I heard Naruto's heart shattering for his friend's loss.